London Bombings

Just had to post a comment on yesterday's bombings in London as it has affected me more than I would have expected. Listening to the news reports last evening as I drove home I was fighting back tears so that I could see to drive. Not being prone to such emotional responses I was surprised by it, and still am. The attack is shocking, and has struck me more powerfully than other recent incidents, such as the Madrid train bombings, I guess because it is closer to home (a work colleague went through King's Cross station probably less than an hour before the thing started).
Perhaps it's something about having kids?
On which note, Joe is three years old today (which is a far cheerier thing to think about), and was up at 6.30 am to kick the day off in style.

Make Poverty History and the G8

So what will happen if the G8 summit happens and our esteemed leaders announce a package that goes some way towards achieving the goals of the MPH campaign, but does not actually put in place the required changes to resolve the issue?
Will Bob Geldof call on all those millions that have signed up at www.live8live.com to rise up and hold their leaders to account, and demand further action? Where is this thing going to go?

Hoon goes for compulsory voting: have they totally lost the plot?

This is madness - Geoff Hoon suggests that the way to reinvigorate our democracy is to make voting compulsory!
He has clearly missed the point. The three major parties in the UK, led by Blair's New Labour project, have successfully worked away over the last ten years or more to take the politics out of politics in the UK. Now they have succeeded they are wondering why no-one wants to play any more.
If the extent of democracy is to be limited to voting once every four years or so for a bunch of suits that are almost indistinguishable from one another, then its really no wonder that we aren't engaged in the process. When will they actually catch on to the meaning behind their own rhetoric, and truly enable ordinary people to take control in their own communities, and participate in the process of government, instead of simply allowing us to choose once in a while which amongst the elite will be able to exercise the power on our behalf. The people want a share of the power for themselves. Participative democracy is all we seek.
It's not revolution, but judging by their reluctance to make it happen, one might be forgiven for thinking that it was.
The internet gives us the tools and the power to do it for ourselves, without the need for hierarchy (if ever there was a real need for it) or massive party structures. These guys are living in the past, it's time they saw the cluetrain a-coming.